Norway's Tidemand family insists it remains equally focused on all of its shipping business segments, rebuffing speculation that it has been trimming its position in Stove Shipping.
Kristin Tidemand, who runs the family-owned operations alongside her sister Caroline and their father Otto, said the focus is across the companies: owner Stove Shipping, bulker operator Eastern Bulk Carriers and shipbroker Lorentzen & Stemoco.
“We have an equally strong engagement in all our three main segments. Our advantage is high competence and quality in all that we are doing,” she said.
Stove wants to own and operate modern, efficient ships, she added. “We are continuously considering fleet renewal, with evaluation of newbuildings against modern and existing ships in the segment.”
It was reported this month that Stove was in the process of selling the Kawasaki Heavy Industries-built, 58,000-dwt Stove Caledonia (built 2010) for $14.3m.
However, Tidemand said the company has chosen not to sell now. “The offer was too low and we believe in better pricing in the time ahead,” she said.
The ship is one of five supramax bulkers in Stove’s fleet. Two of them — the 57,700-dwt Stove Tide and Stove Friend (both built 2016) — are on charter from Phoenix Co of Japan.
The charters were reportedly concluded in 2016 for three years with purchase options. The options could possibly be at $17m each, while the current market value of these Tsuneishi Shipbuilding-constructed ships is estimated at $20m.
Tidemand confirmed that the company has an advantageous purchase option on the vessels, but declined to go into details.
In 2016, four Stove handymaxes built in 1998 and 1999 were sold for $3.25m to $3.5m each. Three of them went to Oryx Shipping of Greece.
The 56,000-dwt Bulk Avanti (built 2006) was sold to PetroVietnam last October, reportedly for $12.5m. It was owned by a limited partnership company in which Stove had a majority stake.
VesselsValue estimates the Bulk Avanti is now worth $10.6m. Tidemand said: “The ship was sold on recommendation from us at a good price for all co-owners.”
She said Stove logged earnings from operations last year that were in line with 2017, and stressed that the company is a long-term shipowner. Like her father, her grandfather Otto Grieg Tidemand ran Stove, starting in 1960.
